How much energy do we save when we use light energy from solar panels?
If you use them to power an entire building, as much energy as the building itself would have used. It all depends on how many solar panels you have and the amount of light you need. The only energy that is not saved is the energy need to produce the solar panels and transport them to the location where they are installed.
Up to 80% of the energy collected will be saved. The energy input to create the panels, the circuitry, the mountings will come close to 30% of the total energy produced for most, and at least 20%. With prismatic separation of light to capture up to 60% OF INCIDENT light, we increase the energy cost of producing the panels, but not as much as we increase the output energy. These are not in commercial use yet.
